JPS60259048A - Facsimile system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to facsimile systems.

In a facsimile system, an image of a document at one location is converted into an electronic signal and transmitted to another location, where the image (is duplicated). It has both a scanner to output a signal representing the image of the document, and a duplicator to reproduce the image corresponding to the received signal onto new paper. In order to be able to communicate, a modem and a link between the two sides convert the image signal into a suitable form (() and convert the image signal from that form to the reverse) to be able to communicate It is necessary to have both a communication control circuit 1@ and a communication control circuit 1@.

Originally, the circuitry that controlled this communication consisted of specialized hardware, but more recently, specially programmed microprocessors have been incorporated as part of facsimile machines to perform these functions. It is proposed to use .

This configuration has the disadvantage that the facsimile machine remains relatively sophisticated and the system is relatively inflexible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a host processor device programmed or programmable to execute a program unrelated to facsimile transmission of data entered by a user and/or to a telephone line. ) a processor device having means for connecting the processor device to the telephone line for transferring data from a telephone, a facsimile device including a scanner and a duplicator; a processor device connected to the facsimile device via the link, the processor device being adapted to control operation of the scanner and duplicator by signals sent via the link; or) transmitting image data from the facsimile machine, the processor unit controlling the interaction of the facsimile system with a remote facsimile station, and controlling the facsimile machine so that facsimile communications can occur. Control your movements,
The picture data received from the facsimile machine is transferred to the telephone line for transmission to the remote facsimile station, and the image data transmitted from the remote facsimile station to the A facsimile system is provided, characterized in that image data received via a telephone line is transferred to the facsimile machine.

Therefore, the facsimile machine is effectively a peripheral device of the host processor device.

Since the operation of the facsimile machine is controlled by the main processor, the structure of the facsimile machine can be very simple and the cost can therefore be reduced.

This processor device itself (has nothing to do with facsimile communication,
It is more useful than a dedicated processor unit because it can perform related tasks.

Preferably, the facsimile device is housed separately from the host processor device and is connected to the processor device by a cable forming the link.

According to another aspect, the invention further provides a scanner, a reproduction machine,
and means for connecting to a link to a host processor device, the operation of both the scanner and the duplicator being controllable 1111 by signals received via said link, and wherein the image data is A facsimile device is provided, characterized in that information is transferred to and from the facsimile device via the link.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a block diagram of a facsimile system.

(DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT) Looking at the drawings, the present facsimile system has cable 3.
It consists of a host processor device 1 connected to a facsimile unit 2.

Facsimile unit 2 includes a scanner 4 and a duplicator 5. Each of these is conventional, and the signals controlling the operation of scanner 4 and duplicator 5 are generated by control circuit 6. This control circuit N6 receives image data from the scanner 4 when the scan a4 scans the transmitted document, and supplies image data to the recorder when the document is to be reproduced.

The processor device 1 may be, for example, a personal computer and is particularly suitable for use as an execution work station.

The processor unit includes a main processor 10 which is controlled in a known manner by system software and application programs having an operating system and a language interpreter. A fixed program (11) is stored in read-only memory (ROM) 11, and a program selected by the user at a particular time (11) is stored in random access memory (RAM) 11.
) 12, but this RAM 12 is also used for memory at work.

ROM11 and RAMI 2 are main processor 10 and bus 1
Communicate via 3.

A user can control the processor unit 1 and enter data for processing using a keyboard 14 operated by a single-chip microcomputer 15. Microcomputer 15 sends a code corresponding to the pressed key to main processor 10, which reacts to the code according to its current program. When a key is pressed, the corresponding character is displayed on a display 16 controlled from a microcomputer. Display 16 can also show program output.

Application programs written by the user can be input from the keyboard 14. As an alternative to this, the application program may be input in the conventional manner from a storage peripheral such as a disk unit (not shown).

The processor unit 1 is connected to the telephone line 17 via a telephone interface circuit 18, a switch network 19 to which a telephone handset 20 is connected, and a modem 21 connected to the microprocessor 15. The telephone handset 20 may be used as a conventional telephone, the dialing of which is carried out from the keyboard 14 or by the processor unit 1 under program control. At other times, processor unit 1 may use telephone line 17 for data communication. A processor device may communicate with similar processor devices, for example, to send or receive e-mail. Alternatively, the processor unit may receive data from a visible data service.

The components of the processor device 1 described so far, except for the display 16 and the handset 20, are located in a common housing 22. The housing 22 has input/output and interface circuits 2 connected to the mother and father glands 13.
It has 3. This circuit is connected to one end of the cable 3 and the other end of this cable (to the control circuit 6 of the ri facsimile unit 2. The facsimile system 2 resides in its own housing 24).

Cable 3 is a standard serial interface, e.g. R3
Through the H.232-C interface, processor unit 1 treats facsimile unit 2 as a peripheral device for controlling the operation of facsimile unit 2 and exchanging data with it. When a user wishes to send a facsimile document to a remote facsimile station, the scanner 4 sends one of the documents to the facsimile station. ! : to set the processor device 1 to facsimile mode. The operating system may be configured to provide the user with a menu that allows the user to select a facsimile mode via the keyboard 14, for example. The operating system's associated routines then designate the keyboard function keys to act as control keys for facsimile operations. These routines initiate a call to a remote facsimile unit using a telephone number that is dialed by the user at the keyboard 14 or perhaps already stored in the system. Once a link has been established for facsimile transmission to this remote facsimile unit, the processor unit 1 sends a signal to the facsimile unit 2 via the cable 3 to begin scanning and operates the scanner 4. let The scanned image data is sent line by line via the cable 3 and written into the RAM 12. The main processor 1o then processes the data to perform any necessary processing, such as compression or edge enhancement, and sends the data to the telephone line 17 via the microcomputer 1 and modem 21.
The data is further sent via telephone line 17 to a remote facsimile station.

Processor unit 1 responds to an incoming facsimile call by storing data in RAM 12Vrc, compressing it or otherwise processing it if necessary, and transmitting it via cable 3 to facsimile unit 2. do.

The duplicating machine 5 is then sent to the market to print out the corresponding image.

The above arrangement, in which the processor device 1 treats the facsimile unit as a peripheral device and all the information necessary for handling facsimile communications is found in the processor device 1, allows a particularly simple and low-cost facsimile unit to be produced. . The processor device 1 itself can perform other processing desired by the user, but is not limited to processing related to facsimile transmission.

First of all, the additional costs associated with introducing facsimile capabilities can be extremely small.

The facsimile unit 2 can also still be used as an input peripheral for inputting the data scanned by the scanner 4 to the processor device 1, for example for single-plane image processing.

The facsimile data unit 2 can also be used as an output peripheral 444 for printing digitally acquired data. Thus, the facsimile unit 2 can also be used as a hard copy unit for the processor device 1. facsimile unit 2 can be operated as a photocopier by allowing a direct connection from scanner 4 to duplicator 5-. You can also set it to zero.

The processor device 1 can also add digital data to the data defining the facsimile image for either transmission or printing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Drawing (C) is a block 1 diagram showing the facsimile system of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols of main parts] Host processor device 1 Facsimile unit 2 Cable 3 Scanner 4 Control circuit 6 Main processor...lO RoM...ll RAM 12 fl: line...13 Keyboard...14 Microcomputer...15 Display 16 Telephone line 1γ Telephone ink face circuit...18 Switch circuit network... 19 Telephone handset 20 Modem 21 Common housing 22 Person output interface circuit 23 Facsimile unit housing sink 24° hand;
Keimitsu Neyama 113 Book 1] I+3 June 1960 191 Mr. Manabu Shiga, Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office], Indication of the case 1985 Patent Application No. 6509
6 No. 2, Name of Invention Facsimile System 3 Relation to Nagisa Case Patent Applicant 4, Agent Name (8444) Patent Attorney Tomio Okabe □ 5
゜Compensation target F Drawing J

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A host processor device programmed or programmable to execute a program unrelated to facsimile communication of data entered by a user, wherein the host processor device is connected between the processor device and a telephone line. a processor unit having means for connecting said processor unit to said telephone line for data transfer; and a facsimile machine having a scanner and a duplicator, said facsimile machine being connected to said processor unit by a link. said processor device is configured to control the operation of said scanner and said facsimile machine by means of signals sent via said link; image data is transferred to and from the facsimile device, and the processor device controls the interaction of the facsimile system with a remote facsimile station and controls the facsimile device so that facsimile communications occur. controlling the operation and transmitting image data received from the facsimile machine to the telephone line for transmission to the remote facsimile station; 2. A facsimile system according to claim 1, wherein the facsimile system is configured to transfer the data to the facsimile machine for further reproduction. - In the system, the facsimile device is housed in a first housing, the processor device is housed in a second housing, and the facsimile device is connected to the processor device by a cable. 3. The facsimile system according to claim 1, wherein the processor device is arranged so that the duplicating machine can receive data words generated from the processor device. 4. A facsimile system that is programmed to control the operation of a facsimile system having a scanner, a duplicator, and means for connecting said scanner and duplicator to a host processor device; The means Q is operative to transmit control signals received from the processor unit to the facsimile machine for controlling the operation of the scanner and the duplicator, and to transmit control signals from the scanner to the processor unit. and a facsimile machine operable to transfer image data from the processor unit to the reproduction machine. 5. The facsimile device according to claim 4, wherein the scanner and the duplicator receive images from the processor device in order to directly transfer one-page, one-image data from the scanner to the duplicator. What is claimed is: 1. A facsimile device characterized in that it can operate in response to a control signal.